Wrongly Convicted Man Tries To Sue Courts

MACOMB COUNTY (WWJ) A man who spent 16 years in prison after being falsely accused of raping his daughter came up empty-handed in a request before a federal appeals court.

Mark Cleary was cleared of the crime after his daughter admitted that she made everything up.

The Detroit Free Press reports that Cleary was convicted in 1989 of raping his 6-year-old daughter, Rachel, who many years later recanted.

She testified that her mother and grandmother had programmed her to lie about her father during a dispute over visitation with his two daughters. She said her mother — Cleary’s ex-girlfriend — talked to her almost daily about the charges and played mock court with her to prepare her for trial.

Cleary later sued for damages from the law enforcement authorities who prosecuted him. But a federal appeals court says Macomb County prosecutors were simply during their jobs.